I was browsing through my favorite food website, AllRecipes, and came upon this easy and interesting Pasta with Peas and Sausage recipe that I had to try since I had most of the ingredients on hand. The only changes I made was I used chicken instead of sausage, 2 cups of heavy cream instead of 1 1/2 cups, threw in a handful of Parmesan cheese into the heavy cream and I tossed in a handful of chopped basil at the end. I had bought another pint of heavy cream because I was planning on making a second batch of ice cream but changed my mind and used it to make a pasta sauce instead. I had some chicken breasts already thawed so instead of thawing out some sausage, I just used the chicken breasts, which was just as yummy.

Pasta with Peas & Chicken

Cooking the chicken breast & garlic

Cooked chicken breast & garlic

Add frozen peas

Add heavy cream

Add Parmesan cheese

Chopped basil

Cooked tri-color rotini pasta

Add rotini pasta

Add basil

Topped with a sprinkling of Parmesan

This dish was very simple to make. It probably took me about 30 minutes from start to finish so it’s very convenient if you want something fast and tasty. The sauce was very easy to make but I think it lacked flavor. I prefer a more Alfredo sauce taste…maybe add some cream cheese and butter? I love the taste and smell of fresh basil (I bought 6 plants from the Farmer’s Market and they’re currently growing along side my thyme and rosemary) and it was a great finishing touch to the dish–although I’d probably add 2x the amount next time. I would definitely make a variation of this dish again but add more ingredients to the sauce and more veggies like some chopped broccoli.

Chong and I received an electric ice cream maker from my wonderful cousins (thanks Cecilia, Bao & Mai!!!) at my bridal shower last year and it sat in our closet collecting dust until now. I’ve been meaning to take it out last summer and make some ice cream but apparently, good intentions do not result in ice cream. So after getting some huge strawberries from my Aunt, I decided to finally make some strawberry ice cream. I followed the recipe that came along with the ice cream maker, which turned out to be delicious!

I can’t find the booklet right now so I’ll have to remember to post the recipe at a later date. The ice cream is really simple to make. The ingredients consist of: heavy cream, whole milk, sugar, strawberries, lemon juice, and vanilla (which I didn’t have any).

Strawberry Ice Cream Pictorial

Strawberries tossed in sugar + lemon juice

2 hours later

2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream + 3/4 c of sugar

Add 1 cup milk

Add strained strawberry/lemon juice

Churning in the ice cream maker

View from top

Actual churning process post strawberries

Frozen overnight

Single serving

My first spoonful

Jackpot!

The frozen strawberries were my favorite part! I really liked the single serving cups (1/2 cup) because they’re so much easier to eat and you don’t have to worry think about how much you’re eating…unless you’re eating more than 1 cup in one sitting. I gave the bigger container to my brother and he ate about 3/4 of the container in one sitting.

I’m planning on making some mint chocolate chip ice cream tomorrow. I can’t wait to try different recipes…lemon sorbet, orange sherbet, raspberry sorbet, gelato, slushies, and of course, more ice cream! Chong and I are not planning on gaining a gazillion pounds eating all these goodies all by ourselves. I’ll have to distribute the calories goodies to my friends and family. Who wouldn’t love a nice container of homemade ice cream as a gift?